Right now the Irish defense is a mess. A 104th placed mess that is giving up a whopping 419 yards per game and 6.3 yards per play. Making those stats even worse is the fact that Notre Dame’s offense has been very good, including a Top-15 rating in total time of possession. Basically, the Irish are reaching historically bad levels of defensive ineptitude during this otherwise promising season, which is pretty mind-boggling when you think of the returning starters and skilled players on the ND defense.

Want a reason why Notre Dame’s defense is ranked so low? Exhibit A is their woeful performance against the Trojans. Notre Dame gave up 10 explosive plays, a staggering amount of big plays that help explain how the Irish defense gave up 501 total yards even as they clamped down for much of the 4th quarter.

Our video wizards took some time and cut up the passing plays, and I wanted to see if we could find out what exactly is ailing the Irish pass defense.

Play #1

Tight end Anthony McCoy absolutely shredded the Irish defense for just over 30 yards per grab with 153 yards on only five catches. The Trojan offense did a nice job motioning McCoy out to the slot, but it looked as if he merely ran straight down the seam and was left wide open, with Darrin Walls lagging behind and Harrison Smith late to get to his deep half. (I don’t know if the Irish were in a Cover-2, but I’m assuming they were.)

Play #2

Another Barkley pass that looked way to easy. From the feed we got, it looks like a classic combination route, where the outside receiver runs a curl and the inside receiver runs a flag over the top of him. Barkley didn’t even make a great throw, forcing a wide open Damian Williams to dive for a ball that neither Gary Gray nor Kyle McCarthy was even close to getting.

Play #3

This put a cap on the most efficient of the Trojan drives when Barkley found Williams again for an easy touchdown. Again, an incredibly easy throw for a quarterback, and Gary Gray let Williams turn him around, attacking his outside shoulder before turning into the post. Harrison Smith was really late getting to this ball… a troubling dilemma to have with your free safety. Needless to say, Smith’s transition back to the secondary hasn’t been smooth.

Play #4

One of the more impressive throws that Barkley made all day. He threaded a tough throw between three defenders, converting a huge 3rd-and-long for 17 yards and a first down from deep inside Trojan territory. While the secondary has certainly deserved its share of criticism, the pass rush was nonexistent and Barkley had all day in the pocket to make a play.

Play #5

The definition of getting burned on a blitz. Credit USC for a perfect play call. With trips to the top of the screen, Sergio Brown came off the corner, Kyle McCarthy took himself out of the play by taking a bad route to the play, and Harrison Smith missed a critical tackle by not using the sideline to his advantage while Darrin Walls got stalk blocked for about 20 yards. Just a perfect play by the Trojans and a great example of how not to tackle in the open field by the Irish. Notre Dame has to know that they’ve been incredibly susceptible against the wide receiver screen game.

Play #6

An absolute killer. How the Irish allow McCoy a free release from the line of scrimmage on a 3rd-and-short play is beyond me. That’s short-yardage defense 101. Kyle McCarthy also got caught looking in the backfield, not keying on the guard pass-blocking, but buying Barkley’s play-action fake before dumping the throw off to McCoy just before getting hit. While this might not have actually been Harrison Smith’s fault, he didn’t do himself any favors by getting rodeo’ed for an extra 15 yards while he tried to punch the ball out, then held on for dear life why McCoy rumbled down the field.

Play #7

Almost a mirror image of play 2. Barkley actually had to wait for the flag, something he could afford to do with the great protection he was getting all day. Once again, this is pretty simple stuff — a combination route — that beats the man coverage. This looked like a read that was elementary, if you look at Kyle McCarthy, he’s down in the box because there’s no one for him to cover, yet the secondary still gets beat on a two-man route.

Play #8

A great play designed to catch the Irish over-playing the screen pass. With trips wide right, the Trojans show the quick throw to the wide-man, and two of the three cover men jump that route, leaving McCoy wide open on a easy throw on the slant. Making matters worse, is the mediocre tackling, allowing McCoy to get an extra ten yards before being chased down.

****

While we don’t have access to the play calls (or goal-line angles that could help us diagnose things better), it’s clear that communication and general IQ is just as big a problem as a lack of pass rush and poor tackling. It’s not as if these were exotic plays. The Irish have seen formations and schemes like this in their previous game, although not with skill players like Damian Williams and Anthony McCoy.

If the Irish want to run the table — a realistic goal with just a modest defensive improvement — they need to get down to the basics, and figure out a way to cut down on the huge defensive miscues.

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